Diabetes Blog Week: Day 1

I’m so happy it is May already and it is Diabetes Blog Week!! Thank you to Karen at Bitter-Sweet Diabetes for once again hosting this important week. EIGHT years folks! Woop-Woop!!

Today’s prompt is: 

Click here for the Diabetes and The Unexpected – Monday 5/15 Link List
Diabetes can sometimes seem to play by a rulebook that makes no sense, tossing out unexpected challenges at random.  What are your best tips for being prepared when the unexpected happens?  Or, take this topic another way and tell us about some good things diabetes has brought into your, or your loved one’s, life that you never could have expected?  (Thank you, Heather, for inspiring this topic!)

When diabetes doesn’t play by the rules I suggest the following:

When you are unexpectedly hyperglycemic:

1. Keep a mini-trampoline handy. In my experience it works best at activating the insulin you already injected or pumped in. 
2. Have a low-carb, low-protein snack handy for when you get the high-blood glucose hungry hungries going on. When blood sugar is high, we want to not make more work for the kidneys by asking them to process more protein. Pick something like sugar free jello and eat as much of it as you want. Mmmmm. Jello. 
3. When you are in range, tell your friends and family that you can be kind of a bummer-tastic a-hole when your blood sugar is high. But you don’t like being this way, so tell them winter is coming. That way, when the hyperglycemia comes on, they know to be more sensitive to you.  

When you are unexpectedly hypoglycemic:

1. If you’re like me and tend to eat all the things when you are low, at the ten minute mark, take insulin for the carbs you ate minus 15-20 grams (depending on the low – also CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST). We might get a little fluffy doing this, but it is better than skyrocketing up to the 300 post low! 
2. Be kind to yourself. Lows happen. 

Welp! That is it for me today! See ya tomorrow!